


five roses and one

by strifescloud



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M, cloud vs. the mysterious flowers, rampant therapeutic romo silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 11:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4875016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strifescloud/pseuds/strifescloud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud has a secret admirer. Someone is sneaking around leaving roses for him to find - although it's not their fault that they don't know he's taken. Genesis, possessive as he may be, wants their relationship to be a secret.</p><p>Oddly, though, Genesis doesn't seem to mind Cloud's floral problem.</p><p>(Or, how Genesis and Cloud went public)</p>
            </blockquote>





	five roses and one

Cloud tended to awaken slowly, the sound of his roommates’ pre-dawn complaints gradually filtering through the fog of sleep as he drifted towards consciousness. Even being in the SOLDIER program, it took a disaster of some magnitude to force him to get up with any sort of urgency. That was why, Cloud reasoned later, it didn’t quite register that the usual chatter was a lot closer to his bunk this morning than it usually was. He hadn’t heard the alarm yet and was quite content to keep snoozing for as long as possible.

“Strife, what the _fuck_ is that?”

Or not.

Blearily opening his eyes, he sought out the source of the noise. The other cadets were gathered loosely around his bunk, with their squad leader at the centre, looking extremely put out. Cloud followed his gaze down to the narrow space beside him on the bed. There, resting gently upon the scratchy white sheets, was a single red rose.

“Um,” Cloud answered hesitantly, “it seems to be a rose.” It was rather large for a rose, he supposed, although he had very little experience on which to base such a comparison. Nibelheim wasn’t exactly hospitable to most flowers.

“I can see that, thank you,” the squad leader snapped, “my question is _what is it doing here_? Did you have someone in here last night?”

“No!” Genesis would _never_ sneak into the cadet barracks just to see him, the risk was far too high. He also got snobby about sleeping on sheets that weren’t made of Wutaian silk – Cloud had always wondered how he fared on long deployment missions.

“So, what, someone snuck in here and left it for you? A secret admirer,” he drawled as the other recruits snickered behind him.

“I, uh, guess so, yes.” Again, not Genesis. While his boyfriend was fond of ludicrous romantic gestures, he was also adamant about keeping their relationship a secret. Cloud wasn’t a fan of the idea, but he understood the reasoning, and Gen _always_ made it up to him. But who else could it have been?

The ‘confrontation’ now defused, the other cadets wandered off to the bathrooms to prepare for the day. The squad leader gave Cloud another long look, but said no more. Delicately, Cloud picked up the rose – it was real, surprisingly, not one of the cheap fakes you could buy everywhere. Real flowers weren’t exactly cheap in Midgar. If another cadet had left this, as was likely, it would have cost them a big chunk of their meagre salary.

It was only a flower though, Cloud reasoned, no reason to get worked up about it. If the person came forward Cloud would just politely turn them down and the whole thing would be over with very quickly. No point telling Genesis either – Cloud found his possessive nature very comforting for the most part, but something like this would probably just upset him. Best for Cloud to deal with this quickly and quietly.

* * *

 

There was another rose sitting on his desk.

He had arrived at his materia theory class exactly on time to shuffle in with the rest of the yawning cadets, which meant that _everyone_ saw the second rose sitting on his usual desk. The snickering started up again, whispers of “Strife’s secret admirer” passing lightning-quick around the room. Sitting down in his seat, Cloud shoved the rose into his bag, face aflame with embarrassment. So, it had to be someone in this room, right? Who else would have memorized which desk he normally used? But they had all arrived at the same time, so whoever it was would have had to come early to plant it here. Unless they had someone helping them…

The start of the class helped take Cloud’s attention off the issue, but the problem was still circulating in his mind. Whoever it was seemed to be going to a lot of effort to get Cloud to notice them. He was kind of flattered, and knew that the person couldn’t possibly know about him and Genesis, but it still seemed kind of sad in a way. Whoever they were, what they were trying was pretty futile.

As the class ended and the cadets shuffled back out of the room, Cloud felt a twinge of unease. The next class was one of their outdoor exercise sessions, so there’s no way someone could hide a rose down there, right?

* * *

 

There was no rose waiting for him on the field. Cloud breathed a huge sigh of relief.

The gruelling hour and a half of exercise left Cloud exhausted and drenched in sweat by the time it was over. He was still noticeably behind his peers – unfortunately noticeable, because he knew it made him an easy target – and although Genesis had assured him that he would catch up soon, he always left these sessions feeling slightly discouraged.

The cadets hit the showers en masse, leaving their gear in piles as they rushed to clean themselves off before the next class. Cloud stood under the spray of cold water, contemplating his floral problem. He couldn’t think of a single cadet who had shown any sort of romantic interest in him – or much interest in him at all. These roses were probably the most notice he’d gotten from the rest of his cohort in a while.

As absorbed in his thoughts as he was, Cloud failed to notice the slight commotion taking place outside the shower stalls. Wrapping one towel around his waist and using another to dry his hair, he stepped out of the stall towards his equipment.

A single, vividly red rose was balanced delicately on top of his pile of gear.

Cloud closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Shiva’s tits, Strife, someone’s keen.” James said from beside him, punching him in the arm with a friendly grin. Cloud didn’t respond. His face must have betrayed his exasperation, because the cadets mostly left him alone, though they still were cracking jokes about the ‘rose ninja’ as they left the showers.

Cloud took another deep breath, gingerly moving the rose to the side as he dressed. He honestly considered leaving the damn thing there – that would at least show he wasn’t interested – but that would probably cause even more trouble than it was worth. He headed to the locker room, rose delicately balanced between his fingers.

There was another one taped to his locker. Cloud wanted to scream.

This time the tape had something written on it. Moving closer, Cloud noted that ‘4/6’ was printed neatly on the tape. Delightful, he had another two roses to deal with today. He tore it down with one swift movement, opening his locker and throwing both of the flowers he held in without much ceremony. Glancing around to ensure that he wasn’t caught, he cautiously extracted his PHS from his bag – the PHS that cadets were _not supposed to have under any circumstances, Gen, what if someone sees me with it_ – and sent his boyfriend a message.

_CS: I think I have a ‘secret admirer’. Someone keeps leaving roses for me. It’s kind of creepy. Miss you <3_

Cloud snapped the PHS shut instantly, shoving it into the depths of his bag before someone noticed that he’d been standing at his locker for a little longer than necessary. He had a bit of a break before his next class, so he took his time moving out to the halls, feeling almost paranoid about finding any more flowers just _waiting_ for him. As soon as he got to the main building, however, he heard a familiar voice echo around the corner and cracked his first real smile of the day.

Genesis was trapped in conversation with the SOLDIER cadet blade instructor, looking more incensed by the second. He had that _look_ on his face – the ‘the Goddess will certainly forgive me if I Firaga you in the face for wasting my time’ look that cadets feared like the plague. Catching his eye for a brief second, Cloud gave him a sympathetic smile and slipped into the nearby empty stairwell.

“…expect _me_ to do about this. I have better things to do with my time than to coddle your useless collection of incompetent fools. Ask Angeal if you need a _demonstration_ , Corporal,” Genesis’s scathing tone carried through the door, only widening Cloud’s grin, “I’m sure he’d be delighted.”

Genesis evidently did not bother to stay and hear the Corporal’s stuttering reply, as he slipped through the stairwell door only a few moments later.

“Useless and incompetent fools?”

“All except you, dearest.” Genesis replied, taking his hand and drawing closer. Cloud tangled their fingers together as Genesis placed a delicate kiss upon his forehead, feeling the tension of his morning drain away in the presence of the man he loved.

“Did you get my message?”

“I did,” Genesis began, but oddly he didn’t seem particularly concerned. Cloud moved on to the bigger question.

“Does it...worry you at all?”

“That someone else has taken notice of how exquisite you are? Cloud, my beloved, why should I worry? After all,” he paused to kiss Cloud’s cheek, “you are mine, are you not? As much as I am yours.”

Cloud was _certain_ that his face was turning as red as Genesis’s coat right now. The ease with which the other declared his affections took Cloud off guard at times, though it certainly wasn’t unwelcome. There was a part of him that wished Genesis could be comfortable showing such affections in public as well, but Cloud always silenced it quickly. He knew that Genesis’s concerns weren’t unfounded, and the departmental politics of Shinra were a maze of thorns for someone like Cloud, who had little experience in such matters.

He also, despite Genesis’s assurances, wondered if maybe he just wasn’t willing to risk anything for someone like Cloud.

Pushing those thoughts to the side - after all, he was here with Genesis _now_ , even if it was just another stolen moment – he stretched up to kiss the other man properly, tightening his grip on the leather-clad hands tangled in his as Genesis leaned down to meet him.

His break was almost over, however, and as much as Cloud would have loved to stay he knew his absence would be noted. He pulled away from Genesis reluctantly.

“I have to go, Gen,” he said, half-smiling even as he slowly removed his hands from the other’s, “but I’ll see you later tonight, okay?”

“ _Even if the morrow is barren of promises-“_

 _“Nothing shall forestall your return_ , I know,” Cloud finished, laughing slightly, “I’ll be up as soon as my classes are over.” He planted one final kiss on Genesis’s cheek, unable to resist, but hurried out the door before he was tempted to stay any longer.

* * *

 

There was no rose waiting on his desk, or on his chair, or anywhere in the next classroom, or the one after that. Cloud felt a nervous kind of relief. Maybe his mysterious suitor has just...given up. Maybe they had seen his poor reception to the last two and realised that he wasn’t interested. Either way, he hadn’t seen a single damn flower in hours and his classmates had stopped cracking as many jokes about it, so he was grateful for the end of the whole ordeal.

Entering the cafeteria for lunch made it clear that he had spoken too soon. There was a _crowd_ of cadets around his squad’s table – ones that weren’t even from his squad, so the story had obviously spread around, Goddess save him he would never live this down – all of them focused on the vividly red flower that sat conspicuously upon the otherwise immaculate white surface.

Cloud was going to _kill_ whoever was leaving these, sympathy be damned. He didn’t even bother picking up the rose, instead making a beeline for the serving queue and ignoring the jeers of his classmates. The serving lady _winked_ at him, making some crack about his ‘secret admirer’ that Cloud steadfastly ignored. He shoved the rose to the side with his lunch tray as he sat down, happy to just ignore the thing even as his squad sat down around him, questions flying around the table.

He ate in silence, very _pointedly ignoring_ the antics of his squadmates as they passed the rose around the table, enacting more and more dramatic impressions of Cloud’s supposed admirer. His focus on doing so was in fact so strong that he failed to notice the banging open of one of the cafeteria doors, or the sudden hush that fell across the dining hall.

“Why is there a _First Class in our cafeteria?_ ” Kieran whispered from across the table, his eyes wide. That made Cloud look up. It was Genesis who was striding confidently across the room, which was especially bizarre – he was meant to be in a meeting, as far as Cloud knew – and he was heading for their table.  The eyes of the entire cadet cohort followed him as he hopped up to perch upon the end of the table, causing the cadets seated on the end to noticeably shuffle backwards.

Cloud spared a brief moment to wonder why Gen always had to sit on the damn table instead of a chair like a normal person before realising that he was staring directly at Cloud and being really not subtle at all.

“Cloud.” Genesis was _smirking_ , what in the Planet’s name was going on?

“Sir.” Just because Genesis had apparently ceased to give any fucks about _secrecy_ didn’t mean that Cloud was immediately jumping ship with him, as much as he may want to.

“I thought perhaps, given how you felt about the last few,” and Gen was definitely projecting his voice enough to be heard by the entire hall, “that I might deliver my last gift in person.”

Oh, he was _not_.

Cloud barely had enough time to process the implications of that statement before Genesis had withdrawn a single, bright red rose from his coat. There was an audible gasp from the other cadets. Genesis continued, speaking only for him now, “I love you. I don’t care if the whole damn company knows. You’re worth the risk, Cloud,” and Cloud reached out to take the rose with numb, trembling fingers, unable to form a response, “you’re worth _everything_.”

Cloud reached up and kissed Genesis, pouring every word he wanted to say into the motion as the cadets cheered around him, and as he broke away he murmured as softly as he could,

“I love you too.”

The words for Genesis only, but no longer a secret.

**Author's Note:**

> genesis and i are two very similar people so he is definitely a Percher. sitting on the intended seating location is for plebs.  
> this was pretty silly and a bit ooc, i know, but ive had some terrible romos bullshit happen in my life recently so writing this made me feel like 200% better  
> written in the dead of night so please forgive any grammatical oversights  
> thanks for reading folks, hope you enjoyed


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